Mission accomplished for historic SJSU football team

WASHINGTON -- San Jose State's football players came a long way to prove a point here Thursday. Both physically and metaphorically.

Mission accomplished. Both physically and metaphorically.

"I think we proved that we're simply the best San Jose State team ever," said safety James Orth.

Whew. Really? Yes, really. Given everything that Orth and his teammates accomplished in spite of what they were forced to endure over the last three weeks, his statement would be a difficult debate proposition to refute.

Thursday afternoon, the Spartans concluded their cross-country excursion to the Military Bowl at RFK Stadium with a tough-it-out 29-20 victory over Bowling Green. This allowed San Jose State to finish the season with an 11-2 record, the most wins by a San Jose State team since 1940. Only the 13-0 Spartans of 1939 won more games -- although until 1950, San Jose State was not a major college program.

None of those previous teams, however, was forced to navigate the same crazy emotional gauntlet that this one did. The last three weeks were a blur for the Spartans players. Their head coach, Mike MacIntyre, announced on Dec. 10 that he was leaving SJSU to quadruple his salary by becoming head coach at the University of Colorado. The next day, defensive assistant Kent Baer was named to coach the Spartans for this bowl game. And a week later, new head coach Ron Caragher was hired.

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How does a team handle all that upheaval? Remarkably well. Unbelievably well. Astoundingly well.

Baer agreed the team should be "considered the greatest team in San Jose State history." And he didn't mind taking on any challenges from those 1939 or 1940 teams.

"We'll play them," Baer said with a grin. "I know they had good teams in those days. But I don't think they were better than this one."

San Jose State certainly had no focus issues Thursday, although the whole day had a breezy, hazy, dreamy vibe -- from the military vehicles and helicopters parked outside the stadium (as a salute to chief sponsor Northrop Grumman, the military contractor) to the old Washington Redskins mementos on the lawn to the bracing gusts of winter wind whipping around all the concrete.

Meanwhile, out in the parking lot stood a tent packed with San Jose State alums and friends, the vast majority from the West Coast. Even 68-year-old alum Krazy George showed up with his drum to pound out Spartans cheers, some of them directly into the ear of smiling school president Mohammad Qayoumi.

And oh, look. Right here in the press box was Caragher, another slightly-out-of-context sight. After being named the new Spartans coach, he didn't want to interfere with Baer's bowl preparation job. Caragher showed up here, however, to shake hands and watch his future players.

"I'm here to just meet a lot of people, try to become part of the San Jose State community," Caragher said during a brief interview in the third quarter, as action proceeded below. "From the coaching perspective, it's low stress. I'm here to root for the good guys."

Caragher did admit that he had addressed the team briefly last week before the flight east.

"I wished them safe travels," he said. "And I told them bowl games are only fun when you win."

Then, suddenly, Caragher looked up, just as San Jose State blocked a Bowling Green punt into the end zone.

"Oh, good!" Caragher blurted. "Get it!"

It was that kind of day. The safety turned out to be a key moment in the game, allowing the Spartans to pull within one point after Bowling Green had taken a 13-10 lead -- and then score a go-ahead touchdown after the Falcons had to punt the ball following the safety.

Yet not until the fourth quarter, when San Jose State finally abandoned a run game that was going nowhere against a rugged Bowling Green defense, did the Spartans pull away to clinch the victory. David Fales, the Spartans' junior quarterback, completed 33 of 43 passes for 395 yards and set up himself for a monster senior season in 2013.

"They deserved to win the game," said Bowling Green coach Dave Clawson of the Spartans. "They're a good football team. They deserve their ranking. That's easily the best passing offense we've faced all year."

It's just too bad San Jose State couldn't have played a bowl closer to home, so more people could have watched that offense in person. Thursday's announced attendance was 17,835 -- a legitimate figure by the eyeball test -- which filled far less than half of the 46,000 seats in creaky old RFK.

Even so, 1,500 or so Spartans followers in the house made as much noise as anyone in the stadium -- and were probably more excited than any human beings in the D.C. area for three hours. This was just SJSU's second bowl game in the past 22 years, as opposed to Bowling Green's fifth in the past 10 years. Next season, San Jose State joins the Mountain West Conference, a league with far more friendly bowl affiliations -- at least for Bay Area alumni and fans. Of the six bowl games that are committed to select Mountain West teams, the farthest east is in Fort Worth, Texas.

Baer, after successfully guiding his Spartans players through a strange yet fulfilling journey, was visibly spent. He's likely joining MacIntyre's staff at Colorado, so this was his last time with the SJSU team.

"I didn't cry," Baer said. "But I wanted to. It's been a little emotional the last few days."

Granted, the Military Bowl is not the Rose Bowl. Bowling Green is not Alabama or Notre Dame. The Spartans still deserve full marks for holding things together as football players on unfamiliar turf and emerging with a result that will allow them to preserve or improve their No. 24 national ranking. MacIntyre, watching on television from his San Jose home, must have felt both pride and melancholy. He was probably even proud that his players have moved on.

"I think we proved that it wasn't just because of Coach Mac that we were successful," said tight end Ryan Otten. "He was a huge part of it. But I think this team showed that we could work hard and change the culture and move San Jose State football up to a level that I hope can continue."

Travis Johnson, the Spartans' all-conference defensive end out of The King's Academy in Sunnyvale, was even more outspoken.

"I think this showed what we're made of," Johnson said. "I don't think we've ever been respected like we should have been. People would see San Jose State on the schedule and say, 'That's a beatable team.' We want to be the team that nobody wants to play."